How to Cage Tomatoes: 14 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow (2024)

FAQs

What is the proper way to put a tomato cage on? ›

To install cages, center the cage around the plant and press down firmly to set the tines into the soil as deeply as possible. For larger cages, stakes may be driven into the ground and tied to the cage to add stability.

Indeterminate varieties that are staked can be planted 1½ to 2 feet apart in the row. Indeterminate plants grown in wire cages should be spaced 2½ to 3 feet apart, while a 3- to 4-foot-spacing would be appropriate for indeterminate tomatoes allowed to sprawl over the ground.

Tie young, low-hanging vines on the plants to the tomato cages. This will encourage the tomato plants to grow upward in their cages. You can use something like floss or rubber bands to tie the vines to the cage. If you're tying the vines, make sure they're not too tight or you could injure the plant.

Cages tend to be a little shorter than stakes, meaning they are better for determinate varieties of tomatoes that won't grow past six feet high.

Benefits Of Not Using Tomato Cages

Tomato cages provide the necessary structure to keep your tomato plants upright, but they come with added maintenance. Without cages, you don't have to worry about staking and pruning the vines so they fit into the framework of the cage.

Tomatoes planted too closely together may be more likely to develop problems, such as: Disease – A lot of plant diseases flourish on moist leaves. If tomatoes are planted so closely together that sunlight and air can't dry out the leaves, the plants will be more likely to develop harmful diseases.

Determinate varieties are on the shorter side, so a 4-foot-tall cage is adequate. For the smallest patio tomatoes, a shorter cage or even a stake can suffice. Indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow and set fruit all season long, producing tall vines that can reach heights of up to 10 feet.

You can keep tomato plants from growing too tall by regularly pruning them, providing support such as stakes or cages, and ensuring they receive adequate sunlight and nutrients to encourage healthy growth without excessive stretching.

Containers should be at least 5 gallons or 12 inches wide and deep, though bigger is better.

Until the plants begin flowering, you can use a balanced fertilizer with a 1-1-1 ratio such as 20-20-20. Once flowering, change over to a high potassium fertilizer. Most fertilizers blended for tomatoes fit this description. In our program, we've been using a fertilizer with a 9-15-30 plus micro-nutrients analysis.

What can tomatoes not be planted with? ›

Note that the cage will NOT hold up on its own after it's laden with fruit and foliage. We pound a 5 foot long piece of rebar two feet in the ground, allowing three feet above ground to attach to the wire cages. We do this every three or four cages, then twine all the cages together in a superstructure of strength!

Tomatoes are happy to grow every which way, rightside up, upside down, left and right. So why bother to put complicated and potentially expensive support structures in place to prop them up?

These cone-shaped cages are cheap and easy to find, but can topple easily when the plants start to grow top-heavy with foliage and fruit. You're best off securing them with a heavy stake driven at least a foot deep into the soil.

Unripe tomatoes are still green and should be stored stem side down in a cardboard box or brown paper bag. This will encourage ripening. Ripe tomatoes should be kept stem side up, at room temperature and away from sunlight. Eat them within a few days for best taste.

A single post support system is a simple and effective way to grow tomatoes. As the plant grows, you can use a variety of materials like string, tomato tape, or plant clips to attach the growing stem to the stick, keeping it upright and supported.